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Guardiola to quit Barcelona

Sky Sports sources understand that Pep Guardiola has told Barcelona he will leave the club at the end of the season.

The Barcelona boss has guided the Catalan giants to two UEFA Champions League titles in his four seasons with the club as well as a host of other trophies.

But the former Barca star's future has been a source of constant speculation for months and the 41-year-old is understood to have finally confirmed he intends to bring his time at the club to an end.

A joint press conference will be held by Guardiola and Barcelona president Sandro Rosell on Friday morning at 11am.

The decision follows Barcelona's sensational exit from the Champions League at the hands of Chelseain Tuesday's semi-final.

Sky Sports' Spanish football expert Guillem Balague believes Guardiola could be planning to try his luck as a manager in the Premier League before long.

Balague told Sky Sports: "He has the urge to coach in another place. He wants to come to the Premier League.

"He couldn't make it here as a player. He was close to joining Wigan at one point I believe. Manchester United wanted him at some point, Liverpool and Spurs, but it didn't happen.

"And as a manager he wants to prove himself in the Premier League."

Guardiola's potential arrival in England would raise the possibility of some of Barcelona's famous players linking up with him in the Premier League.

Fresh voice

And while Balague does not rule out the prospect, he believes a fresh voice may be what his current players need.

Asked about the chance of Barca's superstars coming to England, Balague said: "It's a good point because they are very close to him; they've grown to be better players with him.

"But at the same time, four years with the same manager, seeing the same face, you wonder if that is one of the reasons Guardiola, if he decides to leave, will leave."

And Balague notes there has already been speculation as to who will replace Guardiola as Barcelona manager next season.

"We have got four names that have been mentioned," he added. "Four names that are very much liked by president Sandro Rosell and the director of football Andoni Zubizarreta."

The four managers that have been earmarked are believed to include Athletic Bilbao's maverick Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa and ex-Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas.

The two names making up the list of candidates are both former Barcelona players - France boss Laurent Blanc and Ernesto Valverde, who quit as Olympiakos manager last week.

A further possibility could be another former team-mate of Guardiola's, Roma boss Luis Enrique.

The 41-year-old spent eight years with the club as a player and three years coaching the B team before leaving for Italy last summer.

The options are believed to have already been lined up as a contingency plan should Guardiola decide upon a sabbatical.

Exhaustion

Balague is also keen to rubbish suggestion this is a knee-jerk reaction to Barcelona's Champions League defeat to Chelsea in midweek.

He added: "Let me tell you a little story because I have been writing the biography of Guardiola. For six months he has been thinking of leaving.

"He had had it at the back of his mind and he uses it a bit as a mechanism because if he thinks he is going to stay another four years at Barcelona that would kill him because of the exhaustion of how he works; the amount of hours he puts in.

"This is not a decision just based on results or players that don't want him anymore or problems in the changing room. It just comes to the point where he tells the chairman he just cannot continue.

"The question is, would that blank cheque - the possibility to do anything he wanted at Barcelona - change his mind? I don't know. We will certainly know tomorrow (Friday's press conference)."

With Guardiola's spell in charge set to come to an end, thoughts turn to where he fits in among the pantheon of great coaches in Barcelona's history.

Balague believes Guardiola's achievements cannot be measured in terms of mere trophies, despite there being 13 of them during his time at the helm and the possibility of a 14th next month if Barca beat Athletic in the Copa del Rey final.

"He would say that Johan Cruyff was a bigger manager than him because not only has he won consecutive league titles, one European Cup and one final of another European Cup, It's just the fact that Johan Cruyff changed the mentality of the club.

"But it is certain that he has taken the club to another level - a coach beyond titles. The style in which he has done it, the way he has made Messi the player that he is.

"It's just now you can see, talk to Brendan Rodgers, talk to Roberto Martinez, the influence of Pep Guardiola goes well beyond Barcelona."

Won't be able to cope up with the team just like AVB failed to, Chelsea is a massive defensive team that loves to defend more than attacking and look back at some years they didn't lost at Bridge for more than 4 years, Pep works out on attacking style which is hard to remove from Chelsea hope Di Matteo stays.

Pep is walking away to have a break so doubt he would go into a new job straight away. Expect him to take a 6 month break initially and see what interesting offers come up.

I suspect he wants to know whether he'll miss football management. He may well find that he enjoys life more when's he out of it. Either way doubt he will go to Arsenal for the start of next season.....but football is a funny old game.

Pep is walking away to have a break so doubt he would go into a new job straight away. Expect him to take a 6 month break initially and see what interesting offers come up.

I suspect he wants to know whether he'll miss football management. He may well find that he enjoys life more when's he out of it. Either way doubt he will go to Arsenal for the start of next season.....but football is a funny old game.

Spurs is probably a bigger and better option for him.

Wenger contract runs out in next few seasons so Pep could quite easily step in.

Why he would join a small poxy club like spurs who will be playing europa league football at best is anyones guess

Pep Guardiola distances himself from Chelsea manager vacancy

Originally Posted by BBC Sport

Pep Guardiola has distanced himself from the Chelsea manager's job after confirming he will leave Barcelona at the end of the season.
The 41-year-old has always been Roman Abramovich's top choice to replace Andre Villas-Boas on permanent basis.
But with Guardiola set to take a sabbatical, interim manager Roberto di Matteo is the leading candidate.
Guardiola said: "I'm not interesting in coaching now. There are more things than football."
Chelsea are still hopeful of persuading the Catalan to postpone his break.
Abramovich has wanted to replicate Barcelona's playing style and youth development for several years.
He had meetings with Txiki Begiristain, Barcelona's former director of football, about taking up a similar role at Stamford Bridge, only to see his offer rejected.
Guardiola denied ever having had similar meetings with Abramovich. "I have never met with Roman Abramovich nor any Chelsea representative, I have always respected this club." Guardiola said on Friday.
"I will rest and maybe one day I will say, now let's train. Maybe not. Let's see where life takes me. My desire is to do other things.
"I don't have anything to prove. I'm not interested in proving myself abroad and will go away from football at the moment. I have nothing left and need to recharge my batteries.
"I have to recover and the only way I can do that is by distancing myself."
Guardiola, who has won 13 of the 16 trophies he has contested since taking charge at the Nou Camp in 2008, will be replaced by his assistant Tito Vilanova.
Spain's tax system, which has a rate of just 20 per cent for sports stars, could hinder Chelsea's chances of getting their man. Britain's higher tax rate is now 45% and Abramovich would need to offer at least £10m a year to match the salary Guardiola was paid at Barcelona.
Di Matteo, Chelsea's interim manager, paid tribute to Guardiola on Friday but warned against attempting to replicate what he had created at Barcelona.
''What a coach, what a manager. He's a great guy, a role model with many years as a coach ahead of him.
"He's had such tremendous success and has decided what is probably best for himself, his career and probably his family.
"I'm not sure anyone else can replicate [what he has achieved]. History tells us it's difficult to replicate the culture of a club into a different club.
"He [Guardiola] might be the first one to do it. But if you look back at history, it seems as if it's been different."

It worked wonderfully. All four Shankly, Paisley, Fagan, and Dalglish won league titles. Paisley and Fagan won European Cup as well while Shanks won UEFA Cup. Dalglish did not get the chance to manage us in Europe as we were banned from Europe. It all ended after Souness became Manager after board did not let Dalglish sign Alan Shearer and he resigned. Souness came with new ideas he learned in during his playing time at Sampdoria. Those were right ideas but Liverpool was not ready for them, but he tried his best. Liverpool have not won top flight title since Dalglish managed us to our 18th league title in 1990.

I think it can work at Barcelona. You guys have Barcelona system of playing football like Liverpool had our pass and move system of playing football in our glory days. Board will have to show faith in Barcelona system and stick with the manager if early results are bad or team go through a bad patch during the season. It is about having unity at club from top to bottom and working toward the same goal of winning trophies for the club.

He should have waited till the end of the season. Good manager who apart from his spells in italy and arabia, has been at barca for the last 20-30 years
The building up of talent from the youth team right up to the b team and senior squad at barca along with it's catalonian spirit and community links is the real reason for its success with everyone involved insiders who are part of the family.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles"

Honetly speaking, I wouldn't want Pep. If he can't handle the media pressure after 4 years, he will just leave us too. And mind you, it is not like his team were doing badly, they won everything there was and then lost by one goal in both competitios while vastly dominating both match ups. At United, he won't have those calibre of players and he will be competing with one team who has a vast financial advantage and 2 or 3 more than are realistic title contenders. If he struggles, will he jump ship at the first chance?

United, like Barca have a history or "DNA" of the way the club operates and plays. Barca always been big on the technical side. United have always had that never say die attitude back from the Busby Days. I think we may need to look at home before looking at Jose and Pep because both will leave within 5 years of the job, they will get bored.